A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
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worries abound,
make that call
T
he Oregon Department of
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meeting last week in John
Day drew only a handful of
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The session provided a
lot of good information – not
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most landowners are already
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strategies and the rights and
responsibilities of landowners,
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Some of the information
may seem old hat to folks in this
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potential barn-burner of a season
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For those who couldn’t
attend – and we get that this is
a busy time, on ranches and in
town – here are just a few of the
takeaways:
• Landowners have the right
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of confusion and concern in
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the landowner were underscored
last week by ODF Central
Oregon District Forester George
Ponte, who also made that clear
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• Landowners do have the
right to use their own equipment
– and many have dozers, trucks,
or pumpers that could be put
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stretched thin, such rigs may be
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• Landowners, who know
best about their own terrain
and fuel conditions, should
share that with responding
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and make the response safer
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Ponte said, is communication
and coordination, and the more
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agencies with concerns is sooner,
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the fact, a complaint is apt to be
an exercise in frustration for both
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One simple but important
message from last week’s
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of a possible blaze on your land,
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that’s not as easy as it sounds,
with people increasingly relying
on cell phones, with owners of
some properties living out of
county or state, and with key
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ODF is setting up a data base
of contact information to enhance
communications this season, and
landowners are urged to provide
the best phone contacts for their
properties to the John Day Unit
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To be sure, there are a lot
of valid reasons for missing a
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real good excuse for skipping that
one call, and taking a simple step
toward better communication in
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that could mean a lot, come July,
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C ORRECTION
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Eagle’s Home and Garden section,
the Bear Valley area’s elevation is
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Barker, those are gooseberries she’s
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W HERE TO WRITE
Washington, D.C.
The White House, 1600 Pennsyl-
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20500; Phone-comments: 202-456-
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Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204;
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Blue Mountain
EAGLE
195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845
541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
USPS 226-340
John Day, Oregon
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Scotta Callister, editor@bmeagle.com
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Copyright © 2015 Blue Mountain Eagle
All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced
or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
taping or information storage and retrieval systems — without written permission of the publisher.
C OMMENTARY
Forest supers say new
meetings in the works
By Steve Beverlin, Kevin Martin
and Tom Montoya
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
The Malheur, Umatilla and Wal-
lowa-Whitman National Forests are
committed to keeping an open dialogue
continuing with the communities we
serve and as such would like to update
you all on our progress in the Blue
Mountains Forest Plans revision pro-
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your recent efforts in helping us think
through and develop a re-engagement
strategy for the communities in the
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As we announced last month, we
have met with a broad spectrum of
stakeholders so far this year to discuss
the best ways to re-engage with folks
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and advice, we are exploring a range
of re-engagement activities including
community, stakeholder and Forest
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We want to be clear that these meet-
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is that these meetings will provide op-
portunities to discuss and develop ideas
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Revised Forest Plans, and provide clar-
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As announced this past February,
we began asking local organizations,
including counties, tribes, members of
the public at large and special interest
groups, if they would be interested in
hosting or participating in public meet-
ings in their communities on issues
brought forward through the Draft En-
vironmental Impact Statement com-
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those who have responded to plan and/
or participate in a variety of forums to
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GLWLRQDOHIIRUWVLIWKHUHLVLQWHUHVW:H
are open to meet with the public and
any entity interested in discussing the
GUDIW
We heard a strong desire for fur-
ther discussion around forest access,
backcountry, wilderness and the pace
and scale of restoration, so you can an-
ticipate meetings around these topics,
as well as some other more localized
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PRQ JURXQG DQG FUHDWH VROXWLRQV :H
ORRNIRUZDUGWRWKHVHGLVFXVVLRQV
It is important to know that while
the analysis for the Malheur, Umatilla
and Wallowa-Whitman national forests
will be included in one environmental
impact statement, each forest will have
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HVWDQGLWVFRPPXQLWLHV
We want forest plans that provide
resiliency for our communities in East-
ern Oregon and Washington, plans that
support the local economy and the so-
cial values of the people who use and
GHSHQGRQWKHP:HDOVRZDQWUHVLOLHQ-
cy in ecosystems that can withstand:
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species, human impacts and have the
strength to return to healthy ecosystems
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provide the vision of how to do just
that, and we will continue to need your
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3OHDVH FRPH WR D PHHWLQJ ,I \RX
cannot come to a meeting, contact your
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SXW,I\RXDUHLQWHUHVWHGLQGLVFXVVLQJ
or hosting an engagement event please
contact Katy Gray, Wallowa-Whitman
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We look forward to seeing and hear-
ing from you in the coming months as
we believe together we can plan for a
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The authors are the supervisors of
the three national forests in the region:
Beverlin, for the Malheur; Kevin Martin,
Umatilla, and Montoya, Wallowa-Whit-
man. This column was drafted as an
open letter to the residents of the forest
communities.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Wood idea in works
To the Eagle:
Firewood has been used in Grant
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WKH SUHVHQW )URP WR WKH )RU-
est Service’s inception and until the
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permit just to learn how much was
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a cord to cover the cost of the per-
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the amount of wood, lengths, how it
was removed, along with citations to
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tions of the terms and conditions of
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In recent years with the ongo-
ing efforts from citizens, the Forest
Service has increased the amount of
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³DSSURYHG´ WKH XVH RI $79V LQ UH-
moval, and also rubber-tired equip-
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changes have helped citizens in ac-
quiring a much needed resource that
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The Malheur Forest accrues 250
million board feet of dead, dying and
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FRUGVRI¿UHZRRGLVKDUYHVWHG
annually, approximately one-half of
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any given time, there is a backlog of
a billion board feet or more of dead
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If someone needs wood for fenc-
ing and outbuilding, a patio deck, or
custom-size timbers for refurbishing
an old building, there is no available
venue to do so other than a small sale
that must be bid on, which is gener-
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A proposal from citizens that
some members of the Forest Service
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Under that proposal, if there is a
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L
one can pay a higher price for a per-
sonal use wood permit and place that
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ZRRG DQG LV DI¿[HG ZLWK ¿UHZRRG
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It makes no sense that a dead tree
cannot be converted into useful ma-
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ZLOO EHQH¿W *UDQW &RXQW\ FLWL]HQV
Any structure or improvement goes
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schools and the county’s overall eco-
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On June 19, a decision will be
made by the Malheur National For-
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Please call them and voice your
concerns: Supervisor Steve Bever-
lin, 541-575-3000; Blue Mountain
District Ranger Dave Halameier,
541-575-3401; Prairie City District
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Emigrant Creek District Ranger
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Dave Traylor
John Day
get an education, a job, and to live as
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The Benevolent and Protective
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WLRQ WR FHOHEUDWH )ODJ 'D\ LQ
Grand Lodge requires each lodge to
hold a Flag Day ceremony on June
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quirement of every member and is
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6RSXW\RXUÀDJRXW-XQHLQUH-
membrance of those who fought for
our rights and in celebration of our
OLEHUW\
Sandie Gilson
John Dayy
On graduation garb
To the Editor:
Last Saturday my wife and I were
in John Day to watch the son of a
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It’s always nice to celebrate a
milestone like graduation, a transi-
tion to adulthood, more schooling, or
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was a long time ago I can remember
what an important event it was in my
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OLIH
Which brings me to the point of
To the Editor:
The Elks will hold a ceremony on WKLVOHWWHU:KHQLWFDPHWLPHIRUWKH
Flag Day, June 14, at the annual pic- handing of the diplomas, one of the
nic, which will be held at the former presenters was wearing jeans and
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what I would assume was an untucked
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is the symbol of our country, our mil- spectful to an important day in the
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OLYHVRIJUDGXDWHV,DVVXPHKHZDV
It stands for all the people that D VFKRRO ERDUG PHPEHU PD\EH QRW
have fought to preserve the Constitu- But he might as well have skipped the
tion, Bill of Rights and the freedoms VKLUW +H ZRXOG KDYH ORRNHG MXVW DV
DQG OLEHUWLHV ZH HDFK HQMR\ WRGD\ DSSURSULDWH7KHWZRRWKHUSUHVHQWHUV
It stands for the people, like Martin were wearing coats and ties and gave
Luther King, who stood up and said WKHHYHQWWKHUHVSHFWLWGHVHUYHG
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I believe graduates should be thor-
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make ends meet and provide a home LPSRUWDQWPLOHVWRQH
IRUWKHLUIDPLO\,WVWDQGVIRUWKHRS-
Tom Thomsen
portunities given to each citizen to
Aurora
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity
is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters.
Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and
signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. Deadline is 5
p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.
